Releasing a staged map

Should I wait or just release it now?


  • Total voters
    28
Apr 19, 2009
4,460
1,722
So the first stage of my contest map is more or less blocked out. However, I want to wait till the hole thing is blocked out before I release it.

Should I wait or just release it now?
 

J4CK8

L11: Posh Member
Mar 4, 2009
820
243
It's your decision really. No harm in releasing it though, gives you more time to get it tested. It's better to release it one stage at a time and test each stage so people don't have to sit through a horribly unbalanced stage to test the next one.

having all three stages ready from the very start of testing is going to make balancing it much easier.

How so?
 

Hanz

Ravin' Rabbid
aa
Jan 18, 2009
844
479
Imo it's easier to test stages seperately than together. When you have all stages done (and wrapped around eachother like dustbowl, goldrush, badwater, ..) it will be harder to make big layout changes I guess. You will also not have like a third stage that is way too easy comparing to like stage 1 because you have balanced it out from the beginning (so you won't need to switch stages around).
 

jpr

aa
Feb 1, 2009
1,094
1,085
It's your decision really. No harm in releasing it though, gives you more time to get it tested. It's better to release it one stage at a time and test each stage so people don't have to sit through a horribly unbalanced stage to test the next one.



How so?

The map needs to be balanced as a whole, single stages aren't enough. Balancing the stages is easier if you can compare their difficulty to the other stages
 
Nov 14, 2009
1,257
378
I'd say wait for all three (which is what im doing since im making this type of map), since no matter what, all the stages must be wrapped around, or atleast fit together somehow. If they don't, then thats a pretty big oops! moment for you when you have to put them all together.
 

Dark

L4: Comfortable Member
Nov 27, 2009
159
137
I usually do as much as i can on a three stage, and if i get burnt out i test the stages i have, thats how i would do it anyway
 

Owlruler

L12: Fabulous Member
Dec 10, 2008
964
275
Wait, you're asking us, but then in your own poll, you vote to release all 3 stages at once. Do you not trust your own judgement tpg?

Anywho, I think you should test the stages separately in early alphas, then hen you have a good solid base for each stage, put them all together in order to test the difficulty scaling. If you release all stages at once, s3 will be a lot less tested than the others and so won't be as polished.
 

Acumen

Annoyer
aa
Jun 11, 2009
704
628
Man, what is this lately. All these hypthetical questions popping up for releasing stuff.
Of course you should wait until you have all stages blocket out. Cause considering your history of doing things you'll lose motivation after first stage playtest and start another map

*runs*
 

Fraz

Blu Hatte, Greyscale Backdrop.
aa
Dec 28, 2008
944
1,152
Wait and do all three. I find it's easier to have the picture of a map done, all the entities in etc. It's also easier to think about optimisation in the future and vis blocking etc. It also helps gives testers the picture of what the whole map is like, even if one stage is incredibly unbalanced you can always fix it just like you would with releasing a single stage at a time. Eventually you're gonna have all three done anyway, so why not get all three blocked out so afterwards you spend less time building new stuff and more time fixing bad stuff.